Don't confuse your XTR 695 and your Pro 78!

[RebelGent]

I own both the Pro 78 and the XTR 695. Although I like both of them and they have performed well for me, I tend to favor the XTR because of the band ID it offers when it alerts for Ka. In my neck of the woods, I've only seen 35.5 Ka band, which means immediate attention is warranted when the detector sounds a Ka alert.

I had just gotten home last Thursday after a 700 mile trip from Michigan to SC running my XTR 695. I did have a few alerts...nothing terribly exciting, but really got used to looking at the display of my RD when the Ka band chirped. If I didn't see a band ID, I was still careful, but didn't go into the "I gotta check my speed right now" panic mode as I would have if I saw a numeric display light up. Actually, I did have a nice save when I was but 5 miles from my house right at the end of my trip. I was ramping up to the 55 mph speed limit which didn't actually come into effect for about another 3/4 of a mile when the dreaded 35.5 band chirped. I immediately checked my speed in the 35 mph zone I was in and made it a point not to get to 55 mph until after I passed the posted 55 mph speed limit sign. Let me tell ya, I would have been some kind of IRATE had I gotten a citation just 5 miles from home after traveling hundreds of miles during an 8 hour drive on New Year's day!

Anyhow, why should you pay attention to what RD you are riding with when you're driving? Allow me to tell ya.....

Yesterday I was driving home from work and I had two vehicles in front of me. One was a motorcycle, and one was an old dilapidated car. The car was in the left lane, taking her merry ol' time .... about 5 mph under the 55 mph speed limit. The bike was in the right lane...and every now and then, he would come close to going fast enough to allow me to pass the car....but then he would slow back down keeping me behind both of them....these two people were just completely oblivious they were near each other, 5 mph under the speed limit, and pacing each another.

To make it more aggravating, we were the only 3 cars on the road. No one was in front of us, and no one was behind us. Finally, I was able to get in front of the car, and I was going to accelerate and get in front of the bike so I could make a right hand turn in a couple of miles. As soon as I started this maneuver, my RD alerts to Ka band at 7 bars. I look at the display and see "Ka." I started thinking "Hmmmm...there are never false alerts here, I wonder why the band ID didn't show up?" and thought maybe it was a false alert from another RD....then the RD went quiet. I nearly convinced myself it was a false alert and began the passing maneuver again. And a moment later, another Ka alert tickles my detector at about 8 bars. I responded appropriately, and in just a moment or two, I see a state trooper on the other side of the road passing by. I'm thankful, once again for the advanced notice...but am left pondering why the band of the RD didn't show on my detector.

I was finally able to get ahead of both these vehicles and settled in for the 20 minute ride home. Only after another 5-10 minutes of driving, though, do I realize why the band ID did not appear on the display of my RD...it's because I was driving my other vehicle which had the Pro-78 in it! Duh!!!

So if you've really gotten used to looking at the display on your XTR 695, and have the Pro-78 in another vehicle, pay attention when it braps a Ka alert and don't expect the band ID to show up! LOL

Safe driving everyone.....

Rebel

[Jag42]

Nice story, I always take action very quickly to Ka. If you run your detectors in Filter 2 all the falses will go away by 95% from Cobra,uniden,pni detectors.Does the 695 have a slight edge in performance over the 78 in your opinion? I'm going to run both of the 695 and 78 togother once i buy a 695. The 695 will mount above my wipers and the 78 hardwired above my RVM. I want to compare the performance if you space them far enough apart you shouldn't have a problem. Turn SWS OFF its not needed

[RebelGent]

I live in a very small town...I don't get one false alert for my 16 mile ride home from work. I leave SWS on just for kicks to see if it will ever work, and I run my RD's in "filter" and highway mode all the time.

I don't know if the XTR is hotter or not than the Pro-78. I was quite impressed with the amount of warning I had with my Pro-78 for this particular alert. I was at the very begninning of what I call a two camel hump road with a very wide median. I just began the uphill climb of the first hill when I got the first alert. I finally saw the LEO at the top of the second hill. I know state troopers run 35.5 here so obviously his radar gun was pointing directly at on coming traffic. I have had other off axis encounters where the amount of warning time was very minimal. From personal experience, I can tell you off-axis 35.5 detection is very difficult.

[Jag42]

I can tell you off-axis 35.5 detection is very difficult.

X2... 35.5 can be scary sometimes

[Lucky225]

X2... 35.5 can be scary sometimes

I got EXCELLENT 35.5 range today on the way to work and was surprised to learn that Killeen PD uses it in addition to 34.7. Also a local rural town here called Nolanville is running 33.8!! Very scary route on the way to work now, I have to be cautious of all 3 KA bands!

[happya$$]

I also love the 695. Its features are GREAT!

[steve f]

After turning POP off on my xtr695, the only falses on KA that I've received were from a vehicle passing in the opposite direction on a two lane road, just a single very weak chirp, the voice ID didn't even activate. This has only happened a couple of times. In those couple of cases I didn't even have time to lift my foot. I've never received any kind of strong false KA signal on the 695.

My rule for a KA alert, I slow down first, and glance at the display to see what frequency it is second.